Page 243 - Gulf Precis (V)_Neat

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and then that my letter would be circulated to tho Aboothabco and othor trucial Chiefs as
sanctioning thoir putting to Boa in favour of tho Wahabccs much in tho samo manner as the
Koweit tribe have done in favor of tho Turks.”
Colonel Polly declined to reply at the time to tlicso queries.
163. On arrival at Katif tho Turkish Commander addressed a procla­
mation to
“ all residing in Lahsa, Katif, and tho provinces of Nold,”
informing them that Nejd and its dependencies form part of tho Turkish
possessions similarly to Irak, Yemen, Egypt, &c. The ploclamation next went
on to say that Saood having overthrown the authority of Abdullah, the Kaimu-
kam appointed by the iSultan under the Baghdad Government, a force had
been despatched to assist Abdullah and bring the people under his rule.
Saud was promised pardon if he catno in and apologized for his conduct:
otherwise he aud the tribes that supported him would he destroyed. Tho tribes
that remained at Lahsa and Katif were promised favor and protection.
Midhut Pasha had expected Abdullah to join tho expeditionary force at
• it tamed out nub««]acntiy that ti<o imccurit; ot Katif, but the latter was either unwill-
tho roads prevented liis joining tho Turks. illg Or Unable to do this.* TllO Pasha
told Colonel Herbert that he hoped to attain tho object he had in view by
negotiation and without the employment of force, and with this view he sent
with the Expedition Munsoor Beg, formerly Sheikh of tho Montcfik, and
several other iuduential Arabs to act as iiarlcmcntairea.
164. Early in July the Turkish troops marched from Katif and reached
Uasa. According to a report by one of Colonel Belly’s Moonshees, Fereck
Pasha, tho Turkish Commander, was 15 days getting to Hasa, owing to the
heat and tho illness of his men. The march of the Turks was not opposed, and
the forts were all given up without resistance of any kind. Saood, who was
reported to bo in JRiadh with a large force, seemed anxious to avoid any
collision with the Ottoman troops, and only desirous of drawing them away
from this base of operations on the coast.
Socrtl Decomber 1871, Noe. 1-163 (No. 24).
Colonel Herbert wrote on the 19th July.
“Wheneverthey (t <?., tho Turks) may have establishedthomselvcs in El Hasa, they will,
if he (Saood) be really as strong as is said, be almost entirely at his mercy, as ho will possess
the power of surrounding them and cutting o££ their communication with the coast.
“ A report, which reems to be reliable, has reached me that the Expedition lost as many
a6 four hundred men at Katif from cholera and want of food.
“ Provisions wero scarce and had been damaged iu transit. The men are said to have
been living on rice and water, aud it seems they were in a pitiable condition when they i
marched iroin Katif.
* It is further rumoured that Saood had utterly defeated Abdoollah. and that ho has
offered to pay tribute to Turkey, at tho same time exprossiug his determination to resist
invasion of tho country. i
“ This seera9 to be generally bolieved to bo true.”
165. On the 1st August Colonel Her­ r
Hid No. 25.
bert wrote:—
“ It is stated that tho force is much reduced in numbers by deaths from sickucss and want
of food, and is much dispirited.
“ Sheikh Fnleh, son of Nasir Pasha, Sheikh of the Moutefik, with the contingent of Arab
horsemen which had ascompanicd the Expedition to El Ilnsa, reached Koweit on his return
on tho 2Gth instant.
“ It is reported that, from tho timo of joining tho expedition, he had only received seven
days* oommissariat supplies for his men and animals, aud on his applying for help to the
General in command, Nafiz Pasha, the latter stated his inability to aid him, and rocommendoJ
his return with his contingent; that thoy marched accordingly, but without supplies of any
kind ; and that they lust very many horses on the way to Koweit from want of food and
water. «•
“ Munsoor Beg, Ex-Shcikh of tho Montcfil, Suliman Zahoir, Ex-Shcikh of Zobair, and
Syed Mahomed Saood, brother of Sycd Abdoul-ltohman, Nalceob of Bussorah, aro 6aid to be
on thoir way back, aud fhcrcl'uve Naliz I’asha, with his reduced body of troops, is left without
support at El Hasa.
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